Mr James, a bespectacled man who speaks with a stutter, wrote that he had been sitting outside the mall on Saturday when he noticed a young man sitting nearby.

Mr James was writing a letter at the time, and did not notice when the young man walked away.

When he looked up, he saw the black backpack on the ground.

After looking inside the backpack, Mr James immediately notified a passing police officer, who returned the bag to its owner, a student visiting Boston from China. Police said the backpack's owner didn't want his identity made public.

Mr James said he had not met the man whose bag he found, but said he was “very glad to make sure” it was returned to him safely.

In his statement, Mr James said he worked at a courthouse for 13 years as a file clerk, before he was fired.

He could have applied for another job, he said, but he suffered from an inner-ear disorder that caused prolonged vertigo spells.

“The shelter is the perfect living situation with someone who has Meniere's disease,” he wrote. “There are many people in the shelter to attend to me.”

Mr James said he had siblings and other relatives he could live with, but he did not want to burden them.

“It's just nice to have some money in one's pockets so that, as a homeless man, I don't feel absolutely broke all the time," he said.

In a phone call to Mr Whittington, Mr James said he wanted "to thank you so much for being so kind".

"Those donations will help me to get a brand new start in life," he said.

Mr Whittington replied that Mr James was the one who deserved all the credit.

"You're the one who has done everything," he said. "You've revived my faith in humanity and in the United States, man."

When the Boston police chief thanked Mr James for his honesty, Mr James was asked if there was anything he would like.